pink limeade on a hot summer day.

I love entertaining, which works out well for me since it goes hand in hand with my passion for paper. A popular color palette {and a favorite of mine in the spring and summer} includes a delicious lime green and shades of pink. I used this color combo for a bridal shower for my sister-in-law, Lindsay.

The event kicked off with the invitation {because what event doesn't ... especially in my world}. I started on the invitation and arrived at the color palette shown above. I'm not an over-the-top, lace-y kind of girl, but I like the eyelet lace pattern along the bottom of this invite.

Isn't it fun for spring and summer? We spruced up the envelopes as well, adding a bit of intrigue before ever getting to the actual invitation.

After the invitation was all taken care of, I contacted the bakery. What's a party without a fabulous cake? My go-to place in Tulsa at the time was Mallory's Mud Pies. As of December 2009, however, MMP no longer exists. {I still don't know the details behind the closing, but was in shock when I heard they had shut their doors}. They were delicious. It just so happened that Justin and Lindsay were also getting their wedding cake and cake balls from there as well so Tracey was more than happy to work on another fun cake for the bride. I always loved working with MMP because they did such a great job of matching cakes to invitations, if you so requested. Here's the cake they created for the bridal shower:

Isn't it perfect? Just posting the pictures makes me hungry ...

We wanted to keep the shower small and intimate. I didn't want to overwhelm our space with added decorations and "stuff" so I relied on our cake and other food to double as focal points. I loved the pedestal decanter with spigot {filled with a pink limeade, of course!} It was beautiful and so easy for everyone to serve themselves without a mess. The floral vases filled with limes were another favorite of mine. So simple, but very pretty.

Aside from the cake, all the food we served was finger-friendly. =)

Tarts . Bagel sandwiches . Croissants and chicken salad . Fresh veggies & fruit .

I don't know how I managed this, but I didn't get any pictures of the setup in the living room where the gifts were opened. We used a lot of tea lights and the now-Leaches' engagement photos displayed in black frames. Again, simple, but oh so pretty. I loved watching the subtle candlelight flicker off their beautiful photos.

The final paper touch was this card with adhesive on the back. Anytime I'm at a shower, the hostess is always frantically writing as each gift is opened, making a list of gifts and the giver. The person writing doesn't get to enjoy the gift-opening and often doesn't even realize all the wonderful things they've written down. This card can be placed right on the gift box, bag, or other packaging so the receiver can quickly identify the giver and write their note cards with ease, while at the same time freeing the hostess to enjoy the party as well. Unlike a greeting card, the adhesive keeps the tag in place on each particular gift.

{Sigh}. Now I'm ready for another celebration!!

What are your favorite color palettes? Any color combos you're just loving right now?